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Sanhita Manch Festival: A Hindi theatre fest in the Mumbai

Sanhita Manch Festival returns for Season 2 with three new plays

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Actors in Harus Marus; (inset) Rasika Agashe
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The biggest grouse of Hindi theatre practitioners is the lack of original scripts. Most of the works that are staged right now are adaptations of famous works. In order to address this lacuna, Being Association, a Mumbai-based theatre group founded by actors Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Rasika Agashe, organised the Sanhita Manch Festival last year. The idea was to scout for original scripts from across the country and stage plays based on them for patrons. In its second edition this time, the organisers received 100 entries from various parts of India, out of which three have been shortlisted and will be staged from August 15-17 in Mumbai.

While the first play Harus Marus, directed by Rasika, unveils the parochial nature of human beings and reveals how our existence has become so small in this capitalist world, the second work, Pashmina by Treasure Art association, a Delhi-based theatre company showcases the trials and tribulations faced by people from the Valley. The third production, Nirala by Dastak, an Amritsar-based theatre group, is inspired by the life of well-known Hindi poet Suryakant Tripathi and familiarises the contemporary audience with his writings. Apart from these, talks will be held with theatre stalwarts such as Sunil Shanbag, Mahesh Dattani, Nadira Babbar, Makrand Deshpande and Salim Arif.

Talking about it, Rasika says, “I wanted to do a Hindi play, but there were no original scripts. So, we decided to organise this festival through which we would call for entries, select them and then direct a play on one of them. Last year, we had called for entries from only Mumbai and Delhi. This year, we expanded it to Amritsar, too. Three plays have been shortlisted on the basis of their style of writing, content and novelty.”

She adds that through this festival, the aim is to bring talented writers on a common platform and introduce them to theatre aficionados. She elaborates, “In the interior parts of India, people are working actively in Hindi theatre but they don’t have proper guidance. So, the aim is to help them interact with people from the theatre fraternity of Mumbai.” Plans are afoot to call out for regional entries next year and conduct workshops. “The idea is to develop an active theatre culture among the Indian middle class,” signs off Rasika.

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